Had an incredible time at the Academy Awards on Sunday! Here are some pics. I met Michael Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman and had sightings of Naomi Watts, Jen Aniston and Justin Theroux, Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas, Steven Spielberg and more. Mostly, it was just fun to be there and with great company. We felt relaxed and had seats dead center. The air was casual, celebratory and sincere. Can’t beat a party like that! xoxo

Hair & Makeup by Morgan McDonnell

I’m a sucker for anything Catherine Deneuve… I do think I’ll mosey on down to Nuart for a showing of Tristana before it closes on Thursday. Wanna join me?

There are so many amazing exhibits and readings goin’ on in L.A. this summer, that I would be remiss if I moseyed on by without cluing in my faithful readers!

First up, if you are a Gustav Klimt fan like me, you’ll be drooling over The Getty’s new Klimt show, “The Magic of Line” up now through September 23rd. This rebellious, horny young French Impressionist did wonders pissing off the conservatives in Vienna, painting homage after homage to women’s pubes, maternity and orgies.

Next up, we have “Who Shot Rock & Roll” at the Annenberg Space for Photography. This ruckus good time is showing now through October 7th.

The Ramones in Liverpool, England

According to Annenberg, WSRR is “a group show featuring the work of over 100 photographers. Originally shown and created by the Brooklyn Museum with guest curator and author Gail Buckland, Who Shot Rock & Roll is the first major museum exhibit on rock and roll to spotlight the creative and collaborative role that photographers played in the history of rock music.”

As part of the event, KCRW will be hosting three FREE live outdoor performances at Annenberg in Century City, featuring Moby, Portugal. The Man, and Raphael Saadiq & Band of Skulls, July 14th, July 21st and August 4th, respectively. RSVP at KCRW.

Dig Fight Club? Click on the poster thumbnail below and go hear author/outlier Chuck Palahniuk speak at the Skirball Cultural Center Tues. July 17th at 8pm.

If you happen to live up north, San Francisco is bragging quite a miraculous tribute to the ‘Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier’ at de Young Museum. “From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk” is showing now through August 19th.

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at the de Young Museum from Mia Nakano on Vimeo.

GO! Get your art on. xox

The Laughing Heart
by Charles Bukowski

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

Charles Bukowski, August 16th, 1920 – March 9th, 1994, wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels. Influenced by his home city, Los Angeles, his work is marked by an emphasis on the ordinary lives of working class Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women and the drudgery of menial work. For over two decades he was published by Black Sparrow Press. His work has been translated worldwide. In June 2006 Bukowski’s literary archive was donated by his widow, Linda, to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. “The Laughing Heart” can be found, among other places, in Method Writing by Jack Grapes, Bombshelter Press, © 2011.

There will be a Bukowski Tribute reading in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 30th at 8:00 pm at Grand Performances, 300-350 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Chiwan Choi, Rebecca De Mornay, Kenneth “Sonny” Donato, Dan Fante, Jack Grapes, Gerald Locklin, Wendy Rainey, Joan Jobe Smith, Harry Dean Stanton, and Fred Voss will be reading. This event is free.

[CULTURAL WEEKLY]

Nuevo!    Old ones!

So, I got new gafas graduadas, and if you remember my old thinner red ones (bottom), and compare them to the newer, thicker, deep purple ones – what do you think of?  Cute?  Cuter?  Hot, even?  I’m thinkin’ I like ‘em, but… hmmm.  What say you?

While you’re decidin’, RSVP for SLAKE LA’s next party, Friday, May 4th.  Need impetus?  Cool, see ya there!

This Saturday, March 31st, my native city L.A. offers a live performance, “All in for the 99%” brought by the misfits at Slake Media. Val Kilmer & some hotly talented writers and rebels will make us touch – flesh to flesh, breath to breath, body to body. Ooh, I better quit it! This is serious. Ahem.

[Latest issue, debuting Saturday]

Already convinced?

When: Saturday, March 31, 2012
10:30a-6:30p
What? Free and open to the public

Where: 400 S La Brea Ave, LA, CA 90036
RSVP Slake: Los Angeles
Stalk their Website: www.slake.la

From their press release:

“Join Slake, Rebuild the Dream, MoveOn, the SEIU, Russell Simmons and a busload of the best artists to gather under one (large) roof for a day to celebrate and support the 99 percent movement. Art, activism, performance and outreach come together to fan the flames that will overturn Citizens United and lead to meaningful social and political reform.”

Programming Rundown:

11am: To the roof! We’ll be forming a human 99% for an aerial photograph. Be there and be in the 99.
3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Slake Program featuring Val Kilmer and Vicci Martinez (The Voice – OMG!)

The Lineup:

Val Kilmer as Mark Twain, the OG Occupier.
Natasha Vargas-Cooper (Madmen Unbuttoned, The Awl, The Atlantic, GQ, Salon…)
Erin Aubry Kaplan (Black Talk, Blue Thoughts and Walking the Color Line, Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Essence, Salon…)
Vanessa Carlisle (A Crack In Everything, gorgeous curiosity)
Sam Slovick (Pavement doc series, LA Weekly, Huffington Post, Details, Vibe)
Screening of Occupy LA: Scenes from the New Revolution by Sam Slovick, TakePart and Slake Media
Alex Stevens, Vanessa Carlisle, Elise Whitaker, and journalist Margot Paez discuss Why Occupy?
Singer-songwriter (and The Voice season 1 finalist) Vicci Martinez performs
4:30 Van Jones, Rebuild The Dream

[VIDEO]

Congrats to my precious friend Heather, and her fiancée John on their engagement!  I’m so happy for you both!  (And thanks to John for letting me get rrreeeally close to his lady’s lovely backside.)  The party was wonderful  & I’m so ready to buy magical red heels for your big day! xo

Inspired by the bestselling book Half the Sky, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, a groundbreaking exhibition Women Hold Up Half the Sky addresses the oppression of women worldwide as the human rights cause of our time—and boldly asserts that change is possible, and it can happen quickly.

“Half the Sky” is Showing until May 7th, 2012 at Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Tele: (310) 440-4500
Tickets: $10, free Thursdays. Open late some evenings.

This month, the Bay Area brings it with Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze, an exhibit reversing normative gender roles and ideas around ‘objectification’ by turning the tables and making men society’s bitch.  Here, men are deemed things to gaze upon, genitalia to paint, models of ass-bearing booty shorts and also, dads upon which daughters pray on like the North star.  At times provocative, sexy, thoughtful and serene, this exposition is bound to make ya think – and talk – until dusk.  Highlight: Annie Sprinkle & partner Beth Stephens.

What:  Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze

When:  November 4–30, 2011

Where:  934 Brannan St., San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 863-1414

How Much:  Free admission during normal gallery hours

Gallery Hours:   Tues–Fri 12–7PM, Sat 12–5PM

Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze is a traveling survey  of 117 artworks debuting at SOMArts before traveling to the Kinsey Institute which place the male form in a position of objecthood and reverse conventional hierarchies in the culture of display. The exhibition includes an extensive collection of male adoration, male impersonation and male appendages, as well as works which probe contemporary expressions of feminism.

Featured artists include:

Juana Alicia
Nancy Buchanan
Guerrilla Girls On Tour!
Lynn Hershman Leeson
Jill O’Bryan
ORLAN
Carolee Schneemann
Sylvia Sleigh
Annie Sprinkle
Elizabeth Stephens
May Wilson
Melissa P. Wolf

Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski’s Los Angeles

When

Saturday, November 12, 2011 – 12:00pm – 4:00pm

Where

Philippe the Original
1001 N Alameda St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 628-3781

This tour focuses on Bukowski’s great passions: writing, screwing and Los Angeles. We’ll take in the canonical locations of his life and myth: the Postal Annex Terminal where he gathered the material for “Post Office,” the De Longpre apartment where he briefly experimented with marriage and fatherhood, one of his favorite bars and liquor stores, and many other spots. Along the way, we’ll explore the people and ideas that made up the warp and weft of Buk’s rich inner life. This Esotouric bus adventure is hosted by Richard Schave.

“Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski’s LA” spans Bukowski’s personal city, from Skid Row to once-genteel Crown Hill, to Bukowski’s favorite East Hollywood liquor store, the Pink Elephant.

Esotouric has made its name with true crime bus tours (Black Dahlia, Pasadena Confidential) and explorations of literary LA (Raymond Chandler, John Fante, James M. Cain). Now they turn their creative attentions to Bukowski, the prolific poet, novelist and screenwriter whose rough-hewn tales of boozing, wild women and rotten jobs never obscure the deep vein of sweetness and hope that runs through all his work.  To buy your ticket, visit: Hank Crow

(*Text taken directly from the Esotouric website, well, because it is just so dang perfect!)